A Hogsmead Weekend and a Halloween Ball
by swordleviosa27022
Summary: One-shot.Lily Evans swore in her first year that she was never going out with that arrogant, bullying toerag James Potter. Can a reluctant Hogsmead weekend and a wayward Halloween Ball change that? Part of "The Vanquisher" series but stands alone.


_This fanfiction goes to the artists of deviant art, I saw some of their pictures and got the inspiration the write this fanfiction._

…

Lily furiously bit her lip as she continued her descent, down the snowy streets of the town of Hogsmead. Her eyes glittered from the unshed tears but she blinked them away, no! She would not cry for that sad excuse of a friend!

She cursed as one of her boots went splashing into a puddle of ice cold water. She straightened up and cast a glance ahead of herself. She could see the castle looming into her sight, and sighed thankfully. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to venture to Hogsmead this day. Yet, there was no use crying over spilt potion and hopefully she would soon be back to the warmth of the castle.

She plunged her hands into her pockets in a futile attempt to warm them. A few rain drops fell onto her cold cheeks, cutting her skin like tiny needles. She loved above towards the slowly darkening sky and her suspicions were immediately proven true, there was a storm coming.

She turned around to watch the happy voiced and the warm lights coming from the village, and then turned to the castle. She was stuck somewhere in the middle, and could not rush to shelter. She sighed, frustrated and continued to make her way to the school.

As she walked, her thoughts swirled….

She couldn't understand what she had done wrong, ever since her first year she had desperately tried to hold on to him yet he had continued to slowly slip away from her. Making new friends, he seemed to have moved on yet Lily could tell that they were dark…..was Severus dark?

_Mudblood!_ That was all she was to him now. When had it changed so much, how had he changed so much.

Lily stopped abruptly. She observed the ground as she realized that the rain had stopped hitting her even though it continued to pound down all around her. She could see a shadow slowly forming on the snow, panicking she averted her gaze skywards. She let out a frustrated sigh when she realized who it was.

"Potter!"

Sure enough it was James Potter, though looking a bit tidy for a think woolen het covered his mop of untamable hair. One of his hands gripped the handle of his broom stick while the other was wrapped around a umbrella which he had held out above her.

James hung the umbrella with the help of it's handle to his broomstick, and extended his hand towards her. "Come on, hitch a ride I will take you to the castle"

Lily looked uncertain, her eyes clearly saying _are you kidding me?_

James chuckled "I promise I won't ask you to go out with me" he said airily "this time" he added under his breath but Lily heard him nonetheless.

She cast a hesitant gaze around her, as if she were not abiding by the laws and doing something illegal. With a sigh, she accepted his hand and allowed him to haul her up. "Don't go too fast" she warned him.

James muttered "of course" before kicking off. Thankfully, he stayed true to his word and the broom gracefully rose into the air.

The cold air whipped her face, making her head throb. She screwed her eyes to avoid the sir from hitting her eyes which had already began stinging. She wondered if James' glasses provided him any protection against the brutal rain. She was not sure what possessed her to do so, but she slowly wrapped her arms around his torso, afraid to fall down. She tightened her hold and slowly buried her face into the back of his ebony black overcoat.

She felt the broom slow down, James probably thought she was starting to feel sick or something. "you okay?" he asked, his voice surprisingly laced with concern.

"Yeah" Lily mumbled into his coat.

She didn't know why, but something about being helped by James Potter made her want to cry even harder.

She had probably been wrong about Severus; he was dark and probably had never even cared about her.

Now James Potter! Had he not been the arrogant, selfish person she had always believed him to be. Was he kind and caring? What more had she been wrong about?

She was horrified as she felt tears brimming in her eyes. Oh! If James saw her crying he would want to know why. What would she tell him? And if he tried to comfort her that would be despicable –_would it?-_

She could feel them slowly hit the ground. They were there already!

James climbed off, and then turned around to help her down. He stopped abruptly when he saw her damp cheeks. "Lily! What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Lily cried, blinking away the coming tears and hurriedly wiping her face on her sleeve.

James hurriedly helped her down, before speaking again 'you are crying, something has to be wrong"

"It's nothing' she repeated, her eyes begging him to let go. Yet, James remained as stubborn as ever.

"Tell me….please"

Lily blinked, confused. Why was James prying so hard, did he actually care? She voiced her thoughts "why do you care"

"Because….." yet surprisingly, James didn't seem to have a answer. "Because I want to…help" he finished lamely.

Lily let out a small laugh at his confused expression, she had expected him to say "because I love you" or something, or some other typical James Potter cheek.

James, probably having had caught her small laugh gave her a smile "so…why were you crying all over me?"

"Why I was crying is none of your business, and I was so not all over you" she huffed, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Sorry to break it to you Evans, but you were"

"I so was not James!"

James blinked, before grinning at her "you called me James, I guess we can count that as a improvement"

"Maybe" she murmured mysteriously.

"Well I got to go, Quidditch practice calls" he said, flashing her a _charming_ smile, he swung his broom onto his shoulder and hurrying away.

As Lily watched him moving away, an idea suddenly formed in her head "James!"

James stopped and turned around to listen to her. "hm?"

"I….I am glad to see this part of you" she admitted truthfully.

James' face lit up with a brilliant smile "thanks…Lily"

She smiled at his back as she watched him skip away. Once he had disappeared out of her sight, she turned around and made her way to Gryffindor common room. All thoughts of Severus were out of her head, now she had other thoughts and emotions to figure out.

….

Lily scribbled on a parchment before turning back to her book. The potion's essay was so not coming around well, Professor Slughorn would be disappointed to see his star student's essay. Then again, it wasn't here fault that her mind continued reeling and made it difficult for her to concentrate on her studies.

A roar of laughter sounded, and Lily clenched her eyes shut with a frustrated sigh, honestly did the marauders ever shut up!

She lifted her head from her book to glare at them, at least one of them would notice her gaze and shut up, but her glare wavered as she observed them.

Her gaze ignored the others and came to rest on James who was grinning from ear to ear and scribbling something furiously on a small piece of parchment. _Probably scheming for some new prank!_

Usually she would have walked towards them and berated them for creating so much noise and not caring about other people who were studying. This almost always resulted in fight between a furious Lily and a reluctant James.

This day was different; Lily picked up her books and without saying a word to them, headed for the Library. As she reached the portrait hole, she craned her head to look at the marauders. She shook her head and gave James a small smile before departing.

Unknown to her, Remus Lupin had noticed the smile. He smiled to, maybe James was right, she would come around one day.

….

The Gryffindor common room was buzzing with excitement. Everyone was talking about just one thing- the Halloween ball.

Usually, at Halloween there was just a splendid feast. But, this year after the many pleas from his students, the headmaster had announced a costume ball being held at 31 October which the students had dubbed as "the Halloween ball".

Already, two fourth years and one sixth year had approached Lily to ask her to be their companion to the ball, yet she had refused both of them.

She wasn't sure whom she wanted to go out with, but was pretty sure that it would be someone she knew.

Her first thought was of Severus, but she had wove that one off for she had her own self respect. He could apologize a hundred times still she wouldn't forgive him for what he had said to her. Calling her mud blood was probably the only time he had been truthful with her.

She let her gaze travel around the common room, as she pondered on whom to ask. Most of the students frowned over the fact that a girl had asked a boy, but she payed no heed to those narrow-minded people.

Her gaze travelled to Frank Longbottom and she smiled softly, Alice was going to the ball with him. She though they made a cute couple, and was already teasing her friend about their children who would have Alice's round face and Frank's brunette hair.

Her eyes came to rest on the marauders. No! Was she really even thinking of asking the prat James Potter to the ball.

Well he had asked her a million times; maybe it wouldn't hurt to just give it a shot.

_Maybe…_

….

After two hours, Lily was so very close to having a nervous breakdown.

She was torn between asking James to the ball, or waiting for him to ask her.

She wasn't sure if he would even ask her out. As far as she knew, James believed they were making improvements and didn't want to ruin it by asking her out.

She had asked Marlene a few moments ago if James was going with anyone. Her friend had given her a odd look before saying that he had turned down all the offers.

To avoid the uncomfortable silence that was sure to fall after it, she asked Marlene whom she was going with. Marlene said she was going with Remus for she didn't want to betray Eric (her muggle boyfriend) and was sure that Remus wouldn't use her.

Lily was only half listening, trying to create a plan on how to ask James out. Alice and Marlene continued their conversation, discussing what their costume should be.

Lily remembered all the times James had asked her out, though vividly. She was awed now, every time he would approach her with such confidence and after she had said no, he would laugh about it and say that she would have to say yes one day.

Instinctive! Yes the plan had got to work.

She turned to her friends and said "I'll be back in a minute".

Taking a deep breath, she turned around to walk towards James who was talking to Sirius.

As she came closer, she could hear parts of their conversation.

"Who are you going with Padfoot"

"I dunno, some Hufflepuff blond. She looked hot, so I said yes"

"Great criteria"

"Anyways, who are you going with"

"Right now….no one"

"Oh god! Not again Prongs. I am telling you Evans ain't coming around. Just say yes to the next chick who comes here"

"I am not waiting for her!"

"Then….."

"I don't know alright! Go pester Moony for a change"

"But he already hexed me 'cause I wouldn't let him complete his essay"

By this time, Sirius seemed to have noticed Lily and elbowed James in the ribs for he had his back turned to her and was oblivious to her presence. He craned his neck to look at her, while berating Sirius for lying to him. Once he found her standing behind her, he immediately shut up.

Lily gulped, well there was no escape now. "um Potter…I mean James…..canyougototheballwithme". she had said it so fast she reckoned that she herself couldn't understand it.

But, it seemed that James did understand her as his face split into a grin. He bounded up the sofa and wrapped his arms around her,

"As friends!"

It seemed that James had either not heard her, or chose to ignore her last exclamation. "It's a date!" he cried.

…...

"And it is done!" Lily cried triumphantly. She had spent almost two hours trying to make Marlene's hair lie flat. She soon realized that she should not have volunteered to do her hair for even though Marlene looked absolutely stunning, she herself was still wearing a lose jumper and torn jeans.

"Now squirt, I have so much to do" cried Lily and grabbing her clothes, went to the bathroom to change. She heard Marlene cry "do I look like a doxy to you!" as she locked the door.

A few moments later, she appeared out of the bathroom. Unlike all of the other girls (except her friends) whose clothes seemed to resemble a travelling carnival, her dress was simple. It was pure back and extended to her knees. Sticking out of it, was a cat's tail she had charmed into it.

Alice was leaning beside the doorframe. Since she had brunette hair which extended till her ears and it was sleek, she didn't need much time to get ready. Hurriedly putting on her dress, she had passed a comb through her hair and declared that she was ready. Lily had reminded her that in order to look like a Goth, she would have to apply makeup. Almost two minutes later, she was once again crying at them to get ready quickly for she was bored.

Marlene had taken the longest, for someone who didn't have anyone to impress she was quiet demanding. She had said that she was going to simply tie her hair into a braid and get done with it, but Lily had intervened, and volunteered to make her hair. She was starting to regret her decision now.

Lily hurriedly pulled on her shoes and moved to the mirror. She bit her lip, pondering on what to do with her hair. She sighed, picked up the brush and simply combed her hair to look presentable before putting on the hair band which had two cat ears sticking out of it. A moment later, her fringe broke free of the band and came to rest on her forehead. Hurriedly applying lip-gloss, she declared herself done.

The ending effect was quiet pleasant. She unnecessarily straightened her dress before turning to her friends. Together they made their way downstairs.

As she reached downstairs, she found James waiting for her. He smiled, before extending his hand giving her a small bow. "You look beautiful….as always"

She smiled before taking his hand. She wasn't sure why he wanted to act as a 90's gentleman but decided to follow his lead "as do you kind sir" she said allowing him to kiss her hand.

James straightened up and chuckled "you're good at it"

She winked at him before taking in his appearance. He was wearing plain black robes and a pointed wizard's hat "what are you supposed to be?"

"A hot wizard" he said with a wink.

Lily rolled her eyes, well she couldn't expect him to stay somber for too long.

Together they made their way to the great hall.

The effect inside was quiet breathtaking; the usual floating candles were covered with jack-o-lanterns. The ceiling was pitching black and a soft hum of music filled the place.

Lily let her gaze wander, taking in the many outfits. She caught a few muggle coustumes like superman or batman.

"So where do you want to go kitten?"

Lily blinked, had she misheard or had James just called her a kitten "what did you call me?"

"Kitten, isn't that what you are supposed to be?" he asked her innocently.

"Fair enough" she shrugged "I dunno, lets go get some drinks"

"Already on your way to getting spiffingly drunk huh Evans?"

Lily arched her eyebrow in a questioning manner "they are not serving firewhiskey"

James looked horrified "what kind of party is there without a pint of whiskey"

"A civilized one"

James continued to mumble something incomprehensible about strict rules and boring parties as they accepted the drinks and moved back to find some of their friends.

James spotted Remus and Marlene, and waved to indicate for them to come and join them.

"So Moony you like the party?"

"It's okay"

"I know what you mean, no whiskey!"

Remus though looked surprised "there is no whiskey?...good, at least now I don't have to worry about you and Padfoot getting drunk and doing something stupid"

"Moony!"

Lily was silently watching the many couples dancing, though she felt no desire to join them. She wasn't really good at dancing, well actually she didn't know for she had never tried her hand at that.

James mistook her gaze and immediately got to his feet before offering her his hand "may I have this dance?"

Lily looked confused "I don't dance" she said firmly.

"hmm….really Evans. You don't look that fat to me that you are unstable on your feet"

"no! I…I am pants at it"

James frowned "where was I? Have I missed a disastrous show of my favorite lady dancing…..oh my heart aches at the loss"

"I have never danced" she said with a frustrated sigh.

"Well there is a first time for everything" said James, not retreating his hand.

Lily sighed, accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her to the dance floor.

James let his lust overdrive his consciousness, and pulled her close. He noticed a slight blush creeping up her cheeks but gave it no heed. Together, they swayed with the music. His movements abrupt and slightly jerky while surprisingly her's were gentle and graceful.

She buried her face into the crook of his neck, and inhaled the smell of his aftershave. She lifted her limp arms, which had previously been hanging loosely on her sides, and circled them around his neck. Her wave of fiery red hair seemed to clash dramatically with his jet-black unruly hair

She slowly lifted her face. His face was close….so close. She could feel his arms, which were wrapped around her torso tighten and she increased her hold around his neck. He slowly leaned in as she stood on her tip toe and *****************************************.

She untangled herself from him rather abruptly, breathing deeply. There was shock slowly settling in the pit of her stomach and she could feel tears building in her eyes. What had she done?

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the great hall, attracting many stares from the surrounding crowd. She could feel tears cascading down her cheeks as she made her way to the Gryffindor common room.

She hastily made her way to the girls dormitory and once inside, she closed the door firmly and leaned against it, slowly sinking to her knees.

She was still in shock, what had she done? She wasn't sure how many times she had told herself that she wasn't going to just kiss someone, over the years was she really changing that much.

Potter only complicated matters. She had hated him with passion all her life, yet why was she suddenly feeling like this. That if he disappeared from her life, she wouldn't be able to breathe. Could just a small jester have changed her so much?

She heard a crash from the bathroom, and saw Marlene coming out.

Marlene looked up, and stared at her looking concerned. "Lily? What's wrong?"

"I KISSED JAMES POTTER"

Surprisingly, a grin spread over her face. "That's great…um why are you crying?"

"That is great? Great! Don't you understand? I kissed him, I wasted my first kiss on that..that…" yet words failed her, a small part of her wanted to scold the other for thinking of him like that while the other kept throwing out the words_ prat, bullying toerag… _it was like she was being pulled into two different directions.

"Lily honestly, I have been watching you for like a whole week and you keep on glancing at him, smiling randomly while looking at him. You want him, the whole Gryffindor common room knows that. You damn well love him and we all know that, everyone except you Lily. I am telling you, if you want him look inside yourself but you better hurry, or you will lose him"

_Look inside yourself…._

She did, and all her heart seemed to show her was him. His smile, his loyalty, suddenly even his annoying habit of rumbling up his hair seemed….._cute._

"I love him" she whispered softly, realizing that to love someone you don't need months, or days…..you just need the right moment.

Without saying anything to Marlene, she flew out of the dormitory. She was going to mend all the broken pieces, repair it and make it all right.

She appeared in the common room. Many people had returned, but her eyes searched for the small group, she knew he would be here.

She found him, he was slowly getting to his feet and his friends were scrambling away to give him space. He moved forwards.

"Lily I am so sorry, I should have…."

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as she flew forwards, threw her arms around his neck and******.

…..

_If any of you have a complaint about the ******* thingy, well sorry. But it kinda feels like writing porn, so yuck!_


End file.
